Hackers able to break into voting machines

[cboy4]

Sigh. Great.

(Sacramento)

A team of hackers hired by the California Secretary of State's Office was able to break into every electronic voting machine they tested, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced Friday.

Bowen's office released a summary of findings by a team of experts formed to examine electronic voting systems for accessibility, security and other issues.

The secretary of state said she had not decided whether any electronic voting systems should be decertified. She has scheduled a hearing for Monday to solicit comment by the public, voting experts, and the manufacturers of electronic balloting systems.

Bowen said she is concerned about the potential for hacking.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/295925.html

[bobbolink]

1. They were all hacked, but she can't decide if they should be decertified.

:crazy:

[Toots]

2. she is concerned about the potential for hacking.

Well if every single machine was easily hacked into I would say there is a bit more than potential there and if they continue to use such faulty equipment I think they should be sued for negligence..

[babylonsister]

3. Holy mary, CONCERNED? How nice of her. nt

[cascadiance]

8. I think she's playing this out the way a lawyer will...

Not jumping in too quickly with an emotional statement that she'd get into trouble with later if she overstated the results/conclusions without verifying them, etc. I think that's just smart! I think later she will probably come out with a more deliberate statement and say something like "After technical review, as well as reviewing of data and explanations from vendors on our findings, we've decided to decertify machine X, Y, and Z. Machine A we're still checking on some data to verify this test, etc.

That's the kind of SOS I want!

I believe she's a person that is very observant and takes every thing in but doesn't say too much until she feels the time is right and she has a good case.

I recall asking her at DemocracyFest after her speech with Brad my personal concerns that I felt not many people were looking at, which was whether the DUI voter verification failure rate in L.A. county being substantially higher than the rest of the state (throwing out people's voter registration in typical Republican vote caging fashion) and how there were so many cases in Riverside California of people going after Democrats to reregister them as Republicans and done pretty fraudulently in some cases to get bounties, that were offered. I wondered if these two bits of data were correlated and that the real goal of this fraudulent voter registration scheme in Riverside/Orange Country wasn't so much to get more Republicans, but to actually get many Democrats thrown out by the DMV program by fraudulently reregistering Dem voters with distorted address, etc.

She smiled at me after I asked this without a bit of surprise in her eyes and said they were looking into things like that as if she knew completely the theoretical scenario I was thinking of. I think she's looking at a lot of things that we're not even aware of, and she's always thinking of it with our frame of reference and interests. I trust her completely!

[babylonsister]

9. Thanks for that clarification. From the original story, it sounded like

she was kind of blowing it off. Now I know better.

[BrotherBuzz]

20. Word!

[cboy4]

4. Everyone, don't pick on Debra.....she's our new Democratic

Secretary of State, and I doubt this would have ever been investigated under the Republican who was defeated last November.

I'm sure she'll do the right thing. :)

[sonias]

7. Totally agree - she's putting it all out there

She's the only SOS who has done a top to bottom review of all the voting systems in her state. These were professionals too, computer scientists, computer security experts, programmers etc.

The initial reports are here
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm

And the resumes of the team members are also available from that same page.

I applaud her initiative. I wish we had an SOS like her in Texas.

Sonia

[proud patriot]

5. Thank God Bowen won the election

I'm so thankful for her dedication to the integrity of
voting systems .

I still have her election sign up in my yard . :woohoo:

[cboy4]

6. I know! I got a little nervous at first as the results were coming in,

but I was sure so happy you and I and others helped her win! :)

[Swamp Rat]

10. The next President will be a DEMOCRAT.

;) We can't lose. :D

[shadowknows69]

15. True

because all of the machines will be hacked for Hilary. Our next King...um...er...Queen has already been chosen I fear. That or it's 5AM and I'm delerious. If it's the former I'm a prophet; the latter I'm a fool.

[Hippo_Tron]

11. Good thing that we took back a lot of state governments in '06

The machines get hacked when Rethugs control the state government and let hackers have access to them. Of course in the long term we need voter-verified paper ballots. I also think voter-verified paper trails are acceptable so long as the law is clear that the paper trail is the official count and the machine is not.

[cascadiance]

12. We still have to fix the folks down here in San Diego...

The decade long "monopoly" Republican County board of supervisors here and their stooge Walt Eckard hired pretty amazingly controversial people to replace the already controversial Mikel Haas from last election who they promoted!

They now have Deborah Seiler, a former Diebold Sales Rep as our new registrar of voters, and Michael Vu, the controversial elections director of Cuyahoga County, Ohio as her second in command. Bowen will have her hands full making sure that these folks don't screw us in the next election!

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/05/former_diebold_.html

I suspect there are other similar problems in other counties here in California she will have to deal with. I'm thankful though that we have someone like her looking over their shoulders and potentially being someone to appeal to in case these folks try to pull the same stunts that Haas has that McPherson basically ignored.

[L. Coyote]

13. If a hacker has Cartoon Characters win a Republican primary, who should it be?

If a hacker has Cartoon Characters win a Republican primary, who should it be?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1454447

[byronius]

14. You should all be aware of this woman. This is the real thing.

Debra Bowen is possibly the most honest public servant you will ever see. I've seen her in action, in two hearings, grilling McPherson's stooge William Wood. She shines like the sun. Smartest person in the room. I have become a devotee of this person -- I think she should run for Governor. This is Public Service. That is her creed. She will do this thing right.

I've followed her career closely, donated to her campaign, put her sign up in my yard, and I STILL HAVE THE BUMPER STICKER ON MY CAR BECAUSE SHE TOTALLY KICKS ASS.

Her election was, MARK MY WORDS, the single most important election in modern American History. McPherson was one step away from turning California Red. I watched it happen. You could see it so clearly in William Wood's eyes. His contempt for Bowen's logic and ethical standards was utterly hubristic. They had it in the bag. We so squeaked by.

Trust this woman. Support this woman. Elect this woman to high office.

[EFerrari]

18. I felt the same way about that race. We very narrowly avoided

them flipping CA.

[bobbolink]

21. I'll take your word for it.

So, for those of us who don't know her, why is she "undecided" about decertifying them?

Perspiring minds want to know....

[cboy4]

22. I think it's just a matter of procedure. She has a public

meeting scheduled for Monday to discuss everything.

And then she goes from there.


http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/296375.html

Bowen declined to comment specifically on flaws uncovered, saying she needed more time to review the findings released Friday.

Bowen said it is important to determine whether counties have adequate procedures to bar access or heighten security in ways that would prevent voting machines from being hacked.

"That's a matter for us to investigate, and pull apart, and analyze," she said.

Bowen will hold a public hearing Monday to solicit public, expert and industry comment on the voting machines, used statewide.

[bobbolink]

24. Thanks for the further information! I couldn't figure out what could possibly

be the holdup. With so many elected officials on "our side" dragging their feet, I get a bit jaundiced about all of it.

Please keep us aprised of what happens with this, OK?

Perspiring minds need to know!

[cboy4]

25. Will do!

:)

[EFerrari]

16. Good job, Debra!

[Norrin Radd]

17. The decertification process of electronic voting systems should

involve sledgehammers.

And then recycle the pieces, of course. ;)

[Laurier]

19. Seems to be a double-edged sword

If the machines are hackable, but not decertified, when we win in 2008 - which we will - where the hell does that leave us?

It seems to me that if the machines are hackable, and if Dems are saying that they're hackable, then those who represent us should be insisting on ditching the machines entirely. Paper ballots all around, screw the machines.

[cboy4]

23. ***L.A. Times & S.F. Chronicle stories in today's papers***

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-me-vote28jul28,1,6799644.story?coll=la-headlines-technology

3 voting systems faulted
A review by California's secretary of state finds that the machines can be easily hacked into, potentially putting millions of votes at risk.
Times Staff Writer
July 28, 2007

Three of California's electronic voting systems — including those used in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties — can be easily hacked into, potentially compromising millions of votes, according to a detailed review announced Friday.

Makers of Los Angeles County's InkaVote system did not submit its equipment in time, so it wasn't included, said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who requested the study. The three systems evaluated, used by more than two-thirds of California's counties, also had problems with accessibility requirements for disabled and non-English-speaking voters.

The findings of what some believe to be one of the most comprehensive electronic voting studies to date come as California registrars rush to prepare for the state's presidential primary election Feb. 5. Bowen must analyze the report's conclusions under pressure: Her deadline to decide which equipment to use in the primary is Aug. 3.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/28/VOTING.TMP&tsp=1

State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California's voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems' electronic functions, according to a University of California study released Friday.

The researchers "were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested,'' said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who authorized the "top to bottom review" of every voting system certified by the state.

Neither Bowen nor the investigators were willing to say exactly how vulnerable California elections are to computer hackers, especially because the team of computer experts from the UC system had top-of-the-line security information plus more time and better access to the voting machines than would-be vote thieves likely would have.

[KAT119]

26. Paper and pencils =most secure ala Canada....